Asmara — Ethiopian Airlines is in talks to take a stake in Eritrean Airlines and a study will be conducted to determine the size of the acquisition, the Ethiopian carrier’s CEO said in an interview on Thursday. "We are assessing the situation of Eritrean Airlines right now," Tewolde GebreMariam told Reuters during a visit to the Eritrean capital, Asmara. "I spoke with the CEO yesterday. They have one leased airplane — a [Boeing] 737. We have started discussions." Tewolde travelled to Asmara on Wednesday with an Ethiopian delegation on the first commercial flight from Ethiopia to Eritrea in 20 years — cementing a stunning rapprochement that has ended a generation of hostility between the neighbouring countries in a matter of days. The two 90-minute flights put the icing on the cake of a peace push by new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. His first three months in office have turned politics in his country and the wider East African region on its head. "It is beyond opening routes....

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